The Blonde Boy's Black Eye
by Reader.Not.Writer.1996
Summary: After Nico give Will a pretty impressive black eye their camp mates try to work out the cause of it. Awkward and embarrassed Nico swears Will (a terrible liar) to secrecy. That isn't going to stop the others from prying though. How long can a secret stay a secret?
1. Chapter 1

**The Blonde Boys Black Eye**

Nico's throat was burning, his hands blistered from scrambling over the scorching rock and fire, stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction except the way he was heading. Ahead of him lay only a dark smog. Edging his way further across the ledge he was positioned on Nico tried to make his way further towards the darkness, keeping his body pressed as close to the rock face in front of his as the heat emanating from it would allow; minor burns to his front were nothing compared to the pain he'd feel of falling in to the River Phlegethon below. Moving down the ledge Nico felt he was floating rather than moving the way he usually did. His surroundings felt sticky in his conciousness but Nico himself felt weightless.

He was still a good few yards away from a wider section of platform off of the narrow slice of rock he was currently balancing along when the first touch grazed his arm. Another to his shoulder. The next to his shin. The shifting growths, small, moving lumps at first began to become more defined the more Nico began to panic, fingers started clawing there was out of the lumps before slowly stretching to form wrists and arms, growing out of the wall to just below where the elbow would be on a normal arm.

As Nico continued to make his way closer to the platform his panic continued to grow, especially as he could feel the hands gradually starting to snag at his clothing, adjusting to their new range of movement, though he kept his emotions in check, careful not to loose his concentration in his precarious position. Soon the hands began to grip firmer to Nico, securing there hold on him with dagger like fingers. Wrists, ankles,shoulders, anything the hands could grab onto they did. Nico was finding it increasingly difficult to keep his balance and to not be pushed backwards into the fiery river below. As the arms that had a secure hold on him began to shake Nico like a rag doll he began to fight back, pulling one of his arms free from its capture so a to reach his Stygian iron sword which, up until this point had been swinging uselessly in its holster by his side. Pulling his sword free Nico used all his strength to cut some of the protruding arms from the rock face. To say the arms were made of stone Nico's sword cut through them surprisingly easily, meeting no resistance as it sliced through the grotesque limbs. Nico used his free hand to hold fast to the rock face, keeping one of the arms in a Roman handshake to prevent himself from falling. The more he fought the more insistent the arms became, grabbing him more fiercely, shaking him more roughly but the harder the arms fought to harm him the harder Nico fought back all while new limbs were swelling out of the rack face with every second that passed.

Nico was struggling to keep up with the ever increasing number of limbs, his fighting technique becoming more erratic and wild as he struggled to keep the clawing arms at bay. By chance, one of the larger arms, Nico guessed it was one of the first to form, grabbed at Nico's wrist and managed to twist his sword out of his grip. Nico allowed himself a milliseconds distraction as he watched his beloved weapon hit the waves of the Phlegethon below. Though despite the loss of his blade Nico kept fighting against the stone that held him with the remainder of his strength.

Without his sword Nico's battle became a very one sided one as the burning stone arms gradually started to over power him. As his body became swallowed by the rocks he though he could hear a voice shouting his name but the noise came and went like a whisper upon the wind. The arm Nico had been using to steady himself against the wall had been the first of his limbs to be swallowed in stone, soon followed by both of his legs, stone hands pulling themselves up to encase his legs, dragging there way up his calves and thighs, still constantly shaking him as if to try and awaken the dead from within him. The only sections of his body that were still free were his head, torso and the arm that had once held his now absent sword. That soon changed however a a large lump began to form in the rock face just below eye level. This lump, more fast growing than the rest only took a few seconds to erupt into another ghoulish arm which made a beeline straight for his throat, tightening its fingers like a vice around his neck.

Still struggling, but this time gasping for breath, Nico brought back his arm in one last ditch effort to free himself, even though he knew the effort would be wasted one he had to try, if he was going to die down in this hell hole he wasn't going to do it without putting up a fight. Swinging his arm forward with all his might he punched the arm that currently had its hand around his throat with all his might. Unlike with the attacks he had made with his sword, his hand met a hard resistance, not rock and yet not quite flesh. As his fist met with the arm the latter quickly withdrew its grasp, the shaking stopped and the rocks that encased him began to fall away, flaking off his body like skin off a snake. His sudden freedom surprised Nico and his balance had been seriously effected during his imprisonment causing him to take a step back, in an attempt to right himself, which sent him straight over the canyons edge.

Nico could feel himself falling but instead of coming into contact with the fiery waters of the Phlegethon like he had expected he came into contact with something soft and only mildly warm. Opening his eyes slowly Nico woke up to realise he was in a private room off of the infirmary floor, the one Will Solace had assigned to him earlier that day. The only light source in the room was coming from the soft silvery glow that the moon permitted through the rooms sterile blue curtains. Lying back into his pillows Nico took a couple of second to try and slow his heart rate, steadying his breathing. It was a low groaning sound that brought him out of his brief meditation and elevated his heart back to the rate he had been trying to slow it from, seeing movement stirring from the rooms floor Nico reached across to the night stand and plucked his sword from where it was propped against it, thank gods it hadn't actually been lost. Sitting up straighter in bed, sword raised to strike he only let his guard when a voice came out of the darkness, letting Nico know who his mystery guest was.

"That's some swing you got there di Angelo" Will groaned from the floor, cradling the left side of his face as he pushed himself one handed into a sitting position, resting his head against his right knee as he settled himself, his other leg laying out bent in front of him running parallel to the floor. Sitting up a little straighter in bed Nico discarded his sword so it lay on the clean crisp sheets next to his leg and reached over to turn on the light sat on the night stand. Sure enough there was Will sat in the middle of the room, on the floor a bright redness growing up around his eye and across his left cheek bone.

"Gods Will What happened!" Nico exclaimed as he scrambled out of bed to kneel on the floor next to Will, raising his hand to the medics new injury, though being very careful not to touch the other boy. Will just laughed in response, wincing slightly as he dodged around Nico's out stretched hand and prodded the newly tender flesh around his eye.

"I came in here to check on you" Will explained "You were having a nightmare, thrashing around like mad, I thought you were going to hurt yourself! I tried to wake you, shook your shoulder, called your name none of it was working" Will said sincerity filling his eyes "It was my own faulty really, I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been and then suddenly BAM! Black eye for Will"Nico hung his head in shame but Will was grinning up at him as if it were the best thing to happen to him all week (and considering the week the pair of them had had it probably was).

"Hey look don't worry about it" Will muttered, seriousness now clouding his tone "A quick healing chant in the morning and this whole things fixed" Will gave a small half smile as he finished speaking and gave Nico a gentle fist bump to the shoulder a sign to show that Will held no hard feelings over what had happened between them. Making his way to his feet Will rested his tanned hands against the black fabric of Nico's shirt sleeves, supporting him as Nico too got to his feet. "Lets get you back to bed then" Will mumbled, only half paying attention to his words as he concentrated on keeping Nico on balance, the latter now weaker than he had been thanks to his bout of nightmares. Nico was thankful he didn't have to face Will as his face was radish red red, a contrast to his usually pale complexion.

Once Nico was settled back in his bed Will turned to leave in order to give Nico some more peace so he could rest, though Nico made no effort to switch off the small light shining softly next to him. He didn't know what it was about the son of Apollo but Nico trusted him. Despite this he still didn't really want know to know the subjects of his nightmares, though Nico's brain had other ideas.

"It was Tartarus" Nico mumbled, his words barely audible to Will across the room "I dreamed..,. I was back in Tartarus" Will froze at Nico's words, his hand resting on the door frame, the angle of his head, tilted so Nico was viewing him in profile, was the only indication he had heard what Nico had said. A silence grew between them, broken by Will a few moments later, once he had had time to process Nico's words.

"You were down there alone" Will said, his words just as soft and quiet as Nico's had been. It wasn't a question but he still nodded his head in response. "Everyone thinks Percy and Annabeth are so brave for going through it" Will continued "And they are don't get me wrong they are, most of us here wouldn't have survived a tenth of what they have, but you were down there alone. They had each other but you..." Will paused, his cheeks turning a very faint rose colour, just barely visible to Nico in the dim light. "I can't imagine what you went through but... If you need someone to talk to or someone to listen... you know where to find me."

This time it was Nico's turn blush, he let his chin drop to his chest in an attempt to hide his face. "Thanks Will" Nico all but whispered into his chest. As Will turned once more to leave the room Will Nico called out "Will" to stop him from leaving too far before continuing in an awkward tone. "Do you... Do you mind not telling anyone about this? About the nightmares? Jason he's... a bit over protective and Reyna..." he trailed off, hoping Will had gotten the point he was trying to make. Turning back to face Nico, Will gave him a soft smile. "Don't worry di Angelo your secrets safe with me. "Doctor/Patient confidentiality and all that" All seriousness and tension gone from the room at Will's last statement and he gave Nico a swift wink before finally turning round and exiting the room.

Sighing with exhaustion Nico flopped back on his pillows, sleep finally over taking him once more.

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 **A/N: So this is a longer chapter than what I'm used to writing and I did debate splitting it but thought it better like this. Solangelo may be slow to get here but I promise it will arrive as soon as the story lets it, it will be here. Please _review_ with what you think about the story (and about the chapter length) and hopefully chapter two will be up soon **


	2. Chapter 2

Nico was woken in the early hours of the morning by shuffling coming from the far corner of the room, while a dark shadow riffled through the medical draws in the corner of the room. Dawn was just starting to peek through the gap in the curtains casting a soft orange glow into the room. Keeping the rest of his body as still as possible Nico edged his left hand closer to the night stand where he had places his sword the previous night, hilt facing towards him. Grabbing a secure hold on the hilt of his sword, Nico sat up straight in bed in one swift sudden movement, his weapon pointing straight at the unknown intruder. Will wheeled around at the sound of Nico's sudden movement, his pulse sky rocketing and his breath catching in his throat as he came face to face with the black blade the other boy was holding mere inches from his face.

"Er..." Will stuttered, never taking his eyes off of the sword "mind putting that down?" laughing slightly, trying to add some humour to the situation. Sighing, and also slightly out of breath from adrenaline, Nico lowered the sword to swing loosely at his side. "What are you doing here Solace" Nico asked, an exasperated tone clouding his words, annoyed at being woken from his, for once, peaceful sleep.

"I was _trying_ " Will sighed "to find something to cover this!" he stated, gesturing to his eye where the slight shadowing of a bruise last night had erupted into a large blackish purple mark covering his eye and cheek. Nico blushed as he caught a full view of the damage he had done to Will's face. "I've tried everything I can think of: ambrosia, nectar cream, healing chants, I've even prayed to my dad but nothings worked! Clearly Apollo wants me HUMILIATED throughout camp" Nico jumped as Will started swinging round wildly and shouted to the sky, as if that would make any difference. "Look I'm sorry" he continued, his voice calmer and softer as he once again addressed Nico, "I know you didn't want people finding out about this and I can't lie for toffee... If someone asks me what happened they're not going to believe what I tell them"

"You're sorry?" Nico asked, staring in amazement at the blonde boy in front of him "I'm the one that should be apologizing; I gave you a flippin' black eye for gods sake!" Sighing in defeat Nico moved to sit himself back on his bed, Will joined him a second later, sitting side by side both boys rested their backs against the wall while their legs stretched out in front of them. "So what are we going to do?" Will asked, breaking the pensive silence between them.

"Pray to your dad?"

"Tried that. Didn't work"

"Concealer?"

"Would have to ask the Aphrodite cabin. Which would probably create more problems than it'd solve"

"You could hide out here all day?"

Will laughed "As much as I'd enjoy that Death Boy I think _someone_ would come looking for me." There was a small pause before Will began to speak again "Why can't we just tell people you hit me? We don't need to tell them why you hit me so _technically_ I wouldn't be lying..." Will turned his head to face Nico as he spoke, the latter nodding his head at the idea, a small smile making it's way onto his face.

"Not a bad idea Sunshine" gently nudging Will with his elbow as he spoke "Won't stop Jason though... he'll interrogate you, asking what you did to make me hit you, he'll try and defend my honour" Nico's tone was sarcastic as he turned to face the other boy, there faces dangerously close. Both boys felt their heart rates spike as a certain tension spread between them. A red flush spread across Nico's cheeks like wildfire as he quickly turned to face forward once more, pressing the back of his head against the coolness of the rooms wall. Taking a deep breath to compose himself, slow his heart rate, steady his breathing. "And don't _ever_ call me Death Boy again" The pair laughed good naturedly before falling into a comfortable silence.

"An eye patch?!" Will exclaimed, causing the young Italian to burst out laughing. "I think that's even worse than the concealer idea" Nico replied, still laughing.

...

By this point the sun had well since risen, bathing the pair in a soft glow from what little light was making it's way through the split in the curtains. Turning to look out of the window, his eyes seemingly unaffected my the glare, Will jumped off of the bed, a wide grin plastered across his face. Turning his back on the window Will appeared to Nico to have a halo of light, reflecting off his golden hair; Nico's own medical angel.

"Now" Will started, clapping his hands together as he spoke "I know you're supposed to be resting, but that doesn't mean you can't help out around here. You can be my nurse!" The glee in Will's voice at his last statement was undeniable, and Nico could feel his eyes rolling of there own accord (a habit he'd pick up from hanging around Annabeth, her habit usually caused by Percy's antics), folding his arms in annoyance, his brows furrowing together, indignation was clear in his voice as he spoke. "And what sort of things would I be doing as your... 'nurse'?"

"Oh you know... cutting bandages, fetching medicines, general admin... you know stuff like that" Although Nico's face got darker with every word that Will spoke, the Apollo boys manner never changed, the grin never leaving his face. "So" he continued "you have 5 minuted to get changed, then breakfast, check up and then we put you to work" swivelling round on the spot Will headed for the door with purpose, pausing in the door way to turn back to Nico. "5 minutes stat!" and then leaving as swiftly as he'd started to.

Letting his head flop back against the wall once more he tried to get his head around what happened and how he had been roped into playing nurse for the day, and possibly the remainder of his three day stay in the infirmary. Pushing himself up off the the bed Nico reached down to the foot of the bed for the black rucksack Hazel had brought round earlier the previous day which contained all the old clothed that he had left in his cabin over the years, he just hoped some of them still fit him. Pulling out the top two items of clothing from the top of the pile he headed for a quick shower, glad that he was finally able to be rid of that hideous Hawaiian shirt as he balled it up and aimed it at the trash can in the corner of the room. Pausing before leaving his small sanctuary of solitude to meeting Will in the main infirmary room.

The blonde was already already at work talking to a patient while wrapping bandages around the stomach of a daughter of Hecate when Nico emerged from his room. Shooting Nico a quick smile as he finished up his task the son of Apollo scooted over to a sink as he addressed the other boy, the wheels of his chair gliding smoothly across the infirmaries laminate flooring. "So breakfast?" Will asked, the ever present elation still clear in his voice. Rolling his eyes at Will's cheery tone Nico buried his hands deep into the pockets of his too small jeans (turns out he'd grown a bit since he'd last left clothes here) he turned to walk past the rows of beds lining each wall, making his way to the exit. Will, who had practically leaped from his chair when he realised Nico was leaving without him, following swiftly behind.

Nico was only around two feet from the door when the infirmary door flew inwards, causing Nico to stop in his tracks to avoid being hit by the swinging door. Jason stood on the other side with an expression nearly as gleeful as Will's, a fact which only caused Nico to frown harder.

"Nico!" Jason exclaimed, Piper, Hazel and Frank visible behind him. "We were just coming to get you. We wanted to see if you wanted to join us for breakfast" At this point all the attention Nico had been receiving over the last 24 hours was getting to be too much for him and the son of Hades found himself lost for words, choosing instead to stare at his sneakers, though allowing himself a few quick glances at his sister to see the reassurance on her face. All attention was drawn away from Nico however when Will came unto the others view. Gasps from the group in front of him caused Nico's curiosity to make him look up just as Jason verbalised what everyone else in their small group had been thinking.

"And what in Hades happened to you?"

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 **A/N: Okay so I know I promised this chapter would follow 'soon' and it's been three months but I do have good reason I promise and the chapter is here now. The next one will follow as soon as it's written I promise!**


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